Fish Acclimation

First, let us know if you can pick the fish up at the nearest UPS
Customer Center. That is by
far the best, most convenient way to get fish. It's quicker, less stress on the fish and you
don't have to wait for the driver to show up at an unknown time. Just show up at 8:00-9:00 AM
with your tracking # and I.D.. Track the fish before you leave to go to the center. If it's last
scan is somewhere nearby, then it will be at the center when you get there. We address it to
the UPS location, so it cannot be delivered by mistake.

Have an aquarium ready for your shipped tropical fish. It is best
to quarantine your new arrivals from any other fish you have. They are
stressed by shipping and susceptible to any pathogens your other aquariums
may contain. If you do not properly
quarantine them, you will risk having them die. Anything added
from another tank to your quarantine tank means that it is no longer
quarantined. Just because your existing tank shows no signs of disease, it
may still contain pathogens. They can be present in low numbers waiting
for a stressed fish to attack.

Have plenty of time on the day of their arrival to be sure
they are doing well.

Notify us immediately in the event of a problem or concern.
We must also be notified if their conditions gets worse after
following a suggestion we give you. If the fish do not
arrive by 10:30 on an Overnight shipment, please call or email us immediately!

According to our instructions, return any fish that are dead-on-arrival
or send a clear photo with the tails cut off. Do not dispose
of the fish until we confirm that the photo is clear enough.

Use your regular tap water when setting up the aquarium to be used for the shipped fish.
Be sure your aquarium filter has fully established nitrifying bacteria or be certain to have
an "active filter" with established nitrifying bacteria, ready to put in when your shipped
tropical fish are added. You can also use a bacteria starter culture to help establish the
biological cycle, but these will not work at well as an established active sponge filter.
Do NOT put your shipped tropical fish into pure "R.O." or de-ionized water. This will
greatly stress and probably kill your newly shipped fish. They need to be acclimated to
this type of water slowly over time.

Upon Delivery of Shipped Fish

First, we ask that you do not have the fish shipped if you have no
leeway in the delivery time. The overnight carriers that we use are fairly
reliable, but if the carrier is late, we don't want the fish to die
because you were unable to wait longer. If the fish are not there
by 10:30 AM, contact us right away. The carriers are late often
enough, that you don't want to try and pinpoint the delivery. If you have
to leave, place a note for the carrier driver to take the fish to another
near-by address where the box can be signed for and brought indoors. If
the shipped fish are a full day late, and you or someone else can't be
there to accept delivery, call us and we can possibly make arrangements to
have them sent to another address. The carriers are somewhat flexible and
we can often re-route the shipped fish to another address. It can go to a
neighbor, a work address, any business in town, or the nearest
UPS Customer Center. Many find it more convenient to schedule the
shipment to be picked up at the UPS location, which is the fastest and
safest method when getting new tropical fish shipped in. When picking fish
up at UPS, always take your tracking # and identification with you.

The carrier may hide your fish

Delivery times are usually before 10:30 AM. If you haven't received the
fish by then, it's a good idea to call us right away, track the package,
and then start looking for the spot the carrier may have hidden the
package. We've had the carrier put the fish-box in garages, parked cars,
behind shrubs, in back yards, underneath patio furniture, at neighbor's
houses and many other places you'd never dream of looking. The key is to
suspect the worst and start looking. It's also imperative to let us know
immediately when they haven't arrived by 10:30 AM. It helps to put a LARGE
note on the door for UPS to "Knock Loud", or to "Ring the bell several
times". Even if you do, they are very likely to just toss the box in the
bushes and run. They do not normally ring a bell or knock. This is
another good reason to contact us if the carrier is late.

Checking for problems

Please check the condition of the shipped fish immediately upon arrival.
If there is a problem or concern, call or e-mail us right away. Do not
wait for the problem to get worse. If you have a problem and we make a
recommendation and the fish's condition worsens, please notify us again
immediately.

Our guarantee is cancelled if you do not notify us of a
problem within 2 hours of the first attempted delivery. We
will do our best to help, but we also need you to do your part promptly.
Many times we can prevent further problems if given the opportunity. Check
here to see our complete guarantee.

Fish Acclimation Procedures after Receiving your Shipped Fish

If your shipped fish arrived alive but look a little ragged, do not be
alarmed. Many of the varieties (especially blacks) show damage from
handling more readily. They tend to easily lose scales and some get split
fins during the handling process. The blushing angelfish's more delicate
fins are very susceptible to higher ammonia and bacterial levels and their
fins will sometimes disintegrate under these conditions. Don't worry
though, if this happens they will quickly heal and should look great again
in a week or two of good care.

On the Arrival of your Fish

Shipping can be stressful on fish. Be prepared with an ammonia
neutralizer. If you smell heavy ammonia, you should add an appropriate
amount to each bag to eliminate some of the ammonia. It may be necessary
to repeat this if the acclimation takes a long time, you see signs of
stress or if you smell strong ammonia at any point. If the fish are
stressed because the water is too cold, they must be warmed up to a
reasonable temperature rather quickly. It is best to empty each bag into
an appropriately sized, fish-safe, bucket. Lots of surface area is
important. Do not aerate the water, and do not float the bags in an
aquarium. When very cold, and in the presence of a tranquilizer (which we
commonly use) the tropical fish can appear dead and yet be fine (still,
you should call us). Always acclimate shipped fish that seem to be dead.
Most times, they are just in a torpid state from the shipping conditions,
and will be just fine if warmed up soon enough, and acclimated properly.
To warm the tropical fish, place their bucket into a larger container that
contains warmer water. This should be done until the temperature gets into
the low 70's. The acclimation procedure can be started while the water is
warming.

Drip System for Acclimating Fish

Start a siphon from the aquarium they are going into, through an airline
tubing, into the acclimation bucket. Put an airline valve in-line to
control the drip rate. If you don't have an airline valve, then you can
tie a knot in the airline and tighten or loosen it to control the drip.

Acclimation Procedure for Fish

Drip water from the aquarium into the fish-bucket, at the rate of one
drip/second for every 3 cups of water in the bucket. This means that 6
cups of water in the fish-bucket gets dripped at 2 drips/second. Every
20-30 minutes, double the drip rate. When the water volume in the
fish-bucket has doubled to tripled, add one fish to the aquarium and
observe it's reaction. If it looks worse, then acclimate the rest of the
tropical fish for another hour and then try adding one more. If the
transferred fish look okay, it is then safe to add the rest. Any
individual fish that haven't been added to the tank, and look overly
stressed during acclimation (spinning, erratic movements, on it's side),
should be acclimated quicker. Put them in a separate container and take at
least 10 to 15 minutes to gradually double the water volume and then add
the stressed fish to the tank one at a time. If the first one added
improves, the others can be added in the same manner.

Critical: Part
of acclimating your new tropical fish is to not feed smaller
fish for at least 24 hours and preferably 48 hours for larger ones. When
you do start feeding, start with no more than one or two bites of dry
food. Normal sized feedings can make your fish sick or even cause newly
shipped fish to die! Remove all uneaten food within 2 minutes. If you
cannot get them to eat dry food, try a very small amount of a live food.
However, it is best to not feed live foods during the first week. Do not
feed frozen foods for any reason during the first week after their
arrival!

Having fish shipped in, can be a good experience when you're prepared. Good
luck with your new fish and please let us know the outcome on our Facebook
page. Thanks.